Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Aries Cup Guide

Hello Trainers! Welcome to our Aries Cup Guide for Uma Musume: Pretty Derby. This Champions Meeting guide covers everything you need to prepare for the Aries Cup (Nakayama 2000m Turf), including running style viability (Front Runners, Pace Chasers, Late Surgers, and End Closers), recommended stat targets, key skills such as Angling and Scheming and Festive Miracle, and league selection advice to help you build strong and competitive teams for this turf medium Championship Meet.

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Aries Cup Details

General Stats and Skill Priorities

Stat	Recommended Value	Notes
	1200	Your most important offensive stat. High Speed ensures a strong pace and better late-race performance on Nakayama's long straight. Max this first for consistent results.
	700	Stamina requirements are relatively low for a 2000m Medium race. Aim for at least 700 to stay safe against debuffers running All-Seeing Eyes. Pace Chasers should target 750. Avoid overinvesting, extra budget is better spent on Power and Wit.
	1000	High priority for this track. Nakayama features 3 uphills and 1 downhill, making Power important for maintaining speed through elevation changes and cornering. Aim to cap this if possible.
	500	Not a primary stat, but a 500 Guts floor keeps you stable in close finishes and helps with Dueling when opponents are triple-capped. Higher Guts can also slightly offset lower Stamina.
	1000	Extremely valuable here. High Wit ensures key acceleration skills like Angling and Scheming, Let's Pump Some Iron, and Moving Past, and Beyond trigger reliably. Critical for Christmas Oguri Cap users to guarantee Festive Miracle activation. Aim to cap this.

Recommended Green Skills

	Skill Name	Description
	Right Handed ○	Moderately increases your trainee's performance on right-handed tracks.
	Spring Runner ○	Moderately increases your trainee's performance in spring.
	Firm Conditions ○	Moderately increases your trainee's performance on firm ground.
	Standard Distance ○	Moderately increases your trainee's performance over standard distances. 400, 800, 1200, etc.
	Sunny Days ○	Moderately increases your trainee's performance in sunny weather.
	Nakayama Racecourse ○	Moderately increases your trainee's performance at Nakayama Racecourse.

Front Runners Information

Recommended Stats

1200	700	1000	400	1000

Front Runners sit in first place, so they avoid a lot of the positional jostling that drains Stamina, 700 is a safe floor. Power hits 1000 to handle Nakayama's 3 uphills and maintain cornering speed. Wit caps at 1000 to ensure Angling and Scheming and early positioning skills like Groundwork fire reliably. Guts stays at 400 since it's not a priority for this style.

Recommended Trainees

Recommended Skills

Front Runners are among the strongest strategies in the Aries Cup. With the late-race starting on Corner 3, Angling and Scheming activates at its full potential here, giving well-built Fronts a powerful and reliable acceleration window right as the race heats up. The key challenge is securing and holding first place through the mid-race so the positional requirement for Angling and Scheming is met when it counts. Summer Maruzensky and Valentine's Mihono Bourbon are the standout picks, while Seiun Sky (Reeling in the Big One) can also shine if well-built, leveraging her unique skill's full power on this track. Front Runners also benefit from Silence Suzuka as a teammate. Run as a Runaway under Unity Cup, she can deny opposing Fronts their Angling and Scheming activation by taking the lead position away from them entirely.

Pace Chasers Information

Recommended Stats

1200	750	1000	500	1000

Pace Chasers sit just behind the front pack and face more positional pressure than Front Runners, so Stamina gets bumped to 750 as a safer buffer against debuffers. Guts reaches 500, higher than Front Runners. Since Pace Chasers are more exposed to late-race Dueling and Christmas Oguri Cap users benefit from the extra Guts cushion when running a recovery-heavy build. Wit caps at 1000 to guarantee Festive Miracle Wit checks and ensure Triple 7s and U=ma2 activate reliably

Recommended Trainees

Recommended Skills

Pace Chasers are the dominant force in the Aries Cup, and that dominance comes down to one Uma: Oguri Cap (Ashen Miracle). Her unique skill Festive Miracle delivers both a Speed boost and Acceleration simultaneously when three recovery skills are active, and on this track, Triple 7s triggers at precisely the right moment to carry that boost straight into the late-race. Running her as a Pace Chaser is strongly recommended, as it offers the easiest path to stacking recovery skills while keeping her close enough to the front to contest the lead when it matters. Players looking to push consistency further can also inherit U=ma2 from Agnes Tachyon, which activates just 23 meters before Triple 7s and counts toward the recovery requirement, reducing the risk of a failed Wit check on Festive Miracle. Outside of Christmas Oguri, other Pace Chasers with strong Unique conditions and relevant gold skills can still compete, but expect the majority of lobbies to be built around her.

Late Surgers Information

Recommended Stats

1200	650	1000	500	1000

Late Surgers start further back and benefit from drafting, keeping Stamina at 650 as a comfortable floor. Power stays at 1000 to handle Nakayama's uphills and push through traffic when surging forward. Guts at 500 supports late-race Dueling and helps maintain speed stability during the surge. Wit caps at 1000, critical for ensuring Let's Pump Some Iron and Moving Past, and Beyond trigger at the right moment, as missing those Wit checks when the positional requirement is finally met is a costly loss.

Recommended Trainees

Recommended Skills

Late Surgers have a real shot in the Aries Cup, but their ceiling comes with a gamble attached. The late-race starting on Corner 3 means both Let's Pump Some Iron and Moving Past, and Beyond can activate right as the race opens up, and landing both on the same Uma is a devastating combination. The catch is that these skills require being in 5th-6th and 6th place respectively at that moment, which becomes harder to guarantee in lobbies packed with debuffers and other backliners jostling for position. Mejiro Dober (Off the Line) and Mejiro Ryan (Down the Line) are the natural picks here as the original owners of these skills. Mayano Top Gun and Kawakami Princess are also strong options through No Stopping Me!, which they can access without relying on the Yukino Bijin Wit SSR. Late Surgers can additionally double as debuffers, those carrying Dominator serve as effective backup support even on turns where the acceleration gamble doesn't pay off.

End Closers Information

Recommended Stats

1200	650	1000	500	1000

End Closers share similar stat targets to Late Surgers, starting from the back and benefiting from drafting to keep Stamina at a 650 floor. Power at 1000 is essential for pushing through traffic during the surge and handling Nakayama's uphills. Guts at 500 supports late-race Dueling and helps sustain speed through the final stretch. Wit caps at 1000 to maximize the chances of Let's Pump Some Iron and Moving Past, and Beyond triggering when the positional window finally opens, missing those checks from the back of the pack is far more punishing here than it is for Late Surgers.

Recommended Trainees

Recommended Skills

End Closers are the riskiest backliner option in the Aries Cup. Like Late Surgers, they can benefit from Let's Pump Some Iron and Moving Past, and Beyond if the positional requirements are met, but starting from further back makes those conditions even harder to guarantee, especially in lobbies with multiple backliners competing for the same rear positions. That said, End Closers with decent Late Surger aptitude can flex into a hybrid role, giving them more flexibility in how they position during the race. Early Start and Daring Strike provide some compensation for the late burst timing, and Eager is a useful pickup to help close ground faster. End Closers are best treated as a secondary ace or a debuffer carrier rather than a primary win condition, their upside is real, but the consistency gap compared to Fronts and Pace Chasers is significant in this CM.

League Choices

Open League: Best for newer players. Since the Aries Cup has low Stamina requirements, it's more forgiving to build for even with a modest deck. Focus on one consistent ace, a Front Runner or Pace Chaser with solid acceleration skills is enough to compete here.

Graded League: Recommended if you can consistently hit high Speed, Power, and Wit. Competition is much stronger, and most players will run optimized Christmas Oguri Cap builds, often paired with Dominator debuffers. Higher stats and reliable skill activation give you a clear edge, and the better rewards make this the preferred choice for fully optimized builds.

Conclusion

The Aries Cup is defined by Christmas Oguri Cap and the teams built around her. Pace Chasers win through the Festive Miracle and Triple 7s combo, Front Runners compete through consistent early control with Angling and Scheming, and Late Surgers can steal wins when their acceleration gamble pays off. High Speed, Power, and Wit are the keys to staying competitive in this turf medium Championship Meet.

If you're preparing for the Aries Cup or future Champions Meetings, topping up Carats through the Umamusume Top-Up page on LootBar can help you stay ready for new banners, support cards, and competitive builds.